November/December 2019

Hannah won 3rd place at the Dallas Solo piano competition.  So proud of all her hard work.  She is learning so many great life skills in addition to music.  

The 4th graders at school did a Veteran's Day program.  Their music teacher did a fabulous job putting this together and all the kids worked really hard.  

We had a great Thanksgiving break...love that we are out of school the whole week. We mostly hung out at home, but Nathan did take one extra day off work and we went to the Ft Worth Zoo.  It was a little chilly, but not miserable.  All in all a super fun day.

Our choir and orchestra Christmas concert was really really good.  Both girls sang in the children's choir and they sang in a smaller select ensemble as well.  Hannah was also asked to memorize and recite the Luke 2 Christmas story as an introduction to one of the songs.  She did a AMAZING job! So proud of her. (photo credit Tuyen Le)

2nd Grade also did a school program this year.  It was winter/holiday themed. Abigail's favorite song was "Mr Grinch."  It was super cute and the kids (and music teacher) worked really hard to put it all together.

Hannah is super excited to have finally hit double digits, but mommy is STRUGGLING!  Swear she was just born yesterday.  Her birthday pictures turned out super cute though!

We had a nice low-key Christmas.  We enjoyed lots of yummy food, Christmas sing-along, and opened presents.  The weather wasn't Christmasy but 70 degrees instead.  My dad got the girls a remote control car so they took it up to the school parking lot to play for a while.  All in all it was a great day.

I'll leave you with the 6th Annual edition of jammie pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

September/October 2019

I'm way late in posting this....yet again!  I've been subbing a bunch and the girls have been busy too.  Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving.  Where did fall go?  We've had wacky winter weather in Texas too, so it really feels like I missed out on fall.

So what have we been up to you may ask?  The girls are still loving school and learning lots.  They've had some fun dress up days, the favorite being book character day.  We've also done Field Day and I got to go with Hannah's class on a field trip.  Both girls have also been chose as Star Student for displaying the character trait of the week.  So proud of them both.

We've spent TONS of time at church lately....even more than usual.  The girls got to sing a special quartet part on Sunday with the adult choir and orchestra.  They are also part of the select ensemble for our upcoming Christmas program.  And the kids choir just did their yesterday.  Hannah was part of the drama cast, though she didn't have any lines.  Lots of rehearsal hours put in and they both loved every minute.

This blog is mostly about the girls but I have to mention my silly kitty every once in a while.  Hannah got a loft bed for the birthday almost 2 years ago. We've put Domino in it before and he never seemed to care.  He just recently decided it's a nice place to sleep.  It's hilarious to watch him climb the ladder to get up there.  Silly silly kitty boy!

We had SO MUCH FUN with our Halloween costumes this year.  We've done a family theme for the last 4 years but I think this one is my favorite.  We chose Wizard of Oz.  I must give my mom all the credit for helping make costumes and taking the amazing photographs.  Yes the yellow brick road was created in Photoshop, but it looks amazing!

Stay tuned for more updates....maybe even on time. 😋

July/August 2019

So.....summer kind of got away from me and I forgot to post.  Therefore I'm combining July and August into one longer post.  Still can't believe summer is over and school has started.  We actually had some slightly cooler weather this summer.  The sun and heat are out in full force now, just in time to make walking home from school a really miserable (and sweaty) experience.

The girls are off to a great start in school.  So far they love their classes and their teachers.  I haven't started subbing yet....but I already have a few jobs lined up and I know I'll pick up more.

We packed lots of fun into our last month of summer.  We had several play dates with friends and former teachers and enjoyed LOTS of swimming.

Christmas in July resulted in fun and yummy cookies.  Such a fun tradition.  We also enjoyed spending time with family on the 4th of July.

We also had fun hanging out with Auntie Kara this summer.  She came up to our house to play games and go out for ice cream.  We also took a trip to Ham's Orchard for bbq (and more ice cream).  Then we met her up at her school and got to try out all the string instruments.

All in all we had a great summer and I'm a little sad it's over, but I know we're going to have a great school year!

June 2019

Even though school is out we always manage to pack a LOT into the month of June.  It is by far our busiest summer month.  Thankfully we had about a week off in between each of our big events.

Our first big activity was VBS.  Our overall theme this year was Search and Rescue.  The girls loved every minute and had so much fun.  I volunteered in the preschool music room again (I think this was year 6) and we had a blast too.  Here's just a few pictures from the week.

Our Sunday School class spent a Saturday morning volunteering at Feed My Starving Children.  We packed boxes of bagged food for children in various countries.  It was lots of fun and we loved that our kids could come help as well.  It's definitely something we'll do again.

We like to occasionally take the girls out for a fun breakfast.  Our favorite place to go is the little donut shop down the street.  They owners are super nice and they always decorate their donuts with the cutest designs.

Our next crazy busy week was music camp.  This week is packed full of non-stop action.  In 4 days the kids learn and perform an entire musical. They spend the mornings learning the songs and then get to do special interest classes in the afternoon.  The cast spends many extra hours learning all their lines.  Then the week ends with a performance for parents and friends.  We always have so much fun....but it is tiring.  In addition to helping as a leader, I also taught an interest class.  I did Black Light Rhythm, which was basically using various instruments and doing rhythm activities in dark....everything glowed.  Hannah has been waiting forever to be old enough to audition for a drama part.  It was a lot of extra time, but she loved it and can't wait to do it again.  Just a few pictures of all the fun.

It's been a few years since our church did a big patriotic program so they decided to do one last weekend. We combined orchestras with another local church and I think we had about 45 people total just playing instruments. We also had a good size choir and the small children't ensemble join us for one song too.  Both girls sang and Nathan and I played.  It was lots of fun and we played some pretty songs.

May 2019

This was another whirlwind month.  May is always crazy and almost as busy as December.

We started off with the girls piano recital.  Abigail was excited to play this year and not just listen.  😁They both did really well....all the students did.  Then later that weekend the kid's choir performed their spring musical.  It's always amazing to see what the kids can pull off.  Both Hannah and Abigail had a small solo and Abigail's dance class performed too.

The music teacher at our school worked to get a grant and brought in a really cool program called Day of Drums.  Each grade level went to the gym for 45 minutes during the day to drum.  Each child got their own djembe drum to use.  The guy leading them did an awesome job and all the students were so excited.  I was subbing that day so I got to sneak in a watch (and take a few pics).

I helped at both girls end of year parties, but didn't take any pictures.  It is REALLY nice to be out of school already.  We started a week earlier in August so we could be done before Memorial Day.  Both girls had a wonderful year and had fabulous teachers.  We couldn't have asked for more!!  Check out how much they've grown since the beginning of the year.

We spent Memorial Day with my family and had a blast as usual. The girls couldn't WAIT to get in the pool.  Hannah jumped right in and swam around like a little fish.  Abigail had to do a little practice to remember what she was doing.  But by the end she was able to swim the entire length of the pool.  They will be spending lots of time in the water this summer!